A Tale of Creativity – How This Entrepreneur Brainstorms

I get many questions about some of the more creative aspects of running a business. From how I come up with the company name, the logos, even just the idea in the first place.

“You are so creative,” people tell me. “How do you do it?”

Quiet now, I’ll tell you.

Settle down.

Quiet I say.

Quiet is the answer.

It always amazes me how some people need to crank up their music, television, or even have some white noise in the background to think. Or how so many can go to a busy coffee shop and get any work done.

I’m completely the opposite – I need the proverbial cone of silence to brainstorm my ideas. I find coffee shops and public spaces so distracting, with all the people talking, using their mobile devices, or even just being quiet themselves, trying to brainstorm their next big thing.

I often joke, that I do my best thinking in the bathroom. Though as I write this, I wonder if that is more true than I’d really like to admit.

I think part of my tale of creativity comes from what all good entrepreneurs do before they settle down and get to work – remove all distractions.

Even for those not running a business, our worlds are so busy it really is an enormous challenge clearing our minds from all the chatter.

I find, by going off to a quiet and isolated space, I’m able to free myself from the world around me, and the creative juices start flowing.

Well, almost – it doesn’t hurt to meditate either.

I’m not talking about sitting cross-legged on a purple pillow embroidered in gold, in my bare feet, arms raised in a trance-like prayer state, mumbling some crazy chant.

I just close my eyes and breathe.

I focus on my breathing – thanks yoga for that lesson.

I try to slow down my breathing, and as I focus on my breathing, all the emails, text messages, meetings, phone calls and everything else fades away.

Perhaps that’s why the bathroom isn’t a bad place to brainstorm, unless you’re one of the many that uses their mobile devices while your pants are down by your ankles.

Sometimes I listen to the ocean, thunderstorms, or even the sounds of a forest. I use an app on my iPhone which has all these great sound effects for relaxation. I use SleepStream Pro, but there are many similar apps, or you can probably find these sounds online.

Though some people claim white noise is best.

I never got into the white, pink or other such colorful noises psychologists say helps clear a cluttered mind. To me, it just sounds like static.

After about 15-minutes, I’m relaxed and ready to brainstorm.

I start focusing on the most basic of whatever it is I’m trying to come up with. I ask myself: “what is the most simplistic way of describing this thing?”

I find, focusing on the initial idea, leads to more complex ideas. And from the complex ideas, eventually something lights a spark which screams out: “THAT’S IT!”

Granted, it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes I have more confused clutter, as I generate numerous ideas, none of which call out to me.

It is that lone idea, buried within all the others, which must call out to me for me to use it. I don’t just settle on the first thought that comes to my mind.

I let my mind wander, as I explore all the thoughts which come to it.

That’s what brainstorming really is all about – letting your mind wander through many possible ideas, until you stumble upon that one great idea.

That’s probably how Steve Jobs invented the iPhone, how Elon Musk came to create Tesla Motors, and even how the Google brothers smashed Yahoo!

All great ideas come from letting your mind go.

In the quiet, away from all the other things which take up your thinking day.

That’s how this entrepreneur brainstorms.

And it could work for you.

Or not.

We’re all different.

Maybe you’re the type that likes music playing in the background?

But for me, my tale of creativity begins in the quiet.

Shush now.

I’m thinking.